Jonathan Silverstein, resident director of the Keen Company, has been named the new artistic director of the Off-Broadway troupe dedicated to presenting works that delve into the human spirit.

Silverstein succeeds Keen Company founder and artistic director Carl Forsman, who will depart the company to take on his new role as dean of drama at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, beginning July 1.

Since 2007 Silverstein has been resident director of the Keen Company, shepherding such works as Lemon Sky,The Dining Room, I Never Sang For My Father, Tea and Sympathy and The Hasty Heart.

"I started Keen Company so I could do plays I love with people I love, and as a consequence I spent the last twelve years surrounded by extraordinary amounts of talent and generosity," Forsman said in a statement. "It has been an incredible experience, and I am so grateful to everyone who made those years possible. As I head off to my next adventure as dean of drama at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, I am thrilled that Jonathan Silverstein is prepared to take the reins. For a long time now, his artistic work has been very much at the center of bringing Keen Company new attention and prominence Off-Broadway, and I have every confidence that he will take the company in all kinds of new directions while staying true to our mission of being a theater that believes in the possibility of kindness, forgiveness, and hope. I can't wait to come see all the exciting work I know he'll make."